How to get rid of moths for good
Image via Erin Eggenburg on Instagram
None of us know what happens behind other peoples’ doors but, have you ever considered what goes on inside your own wardrobe? If, like me, you’ve discovered unexpected holes in cashmere, then chances are, it’s busy in there. In the silence of your closet and deep in the fibres of your favourite sweaters, will be a Bacchanalian feast, a Roman orgy of moth life. They’ll be devouring, procreating, nesting, rebirthing and dying while nestled in your finest natural fibres. A warmer world, milder winters and hotter homes are great news for moths but a source of human dismay as we pick over their sartorial havoc. If moths are part of our future eco-systems and we wish to limit damage to our clothing, then we must learn to vanquish the tenacious termites. Here’s how.
Locate the enemy Prioritise defences where garments have been damaged but aim to tackle all vulnerable areas. Evidence of moths is indicated by mini cobwebs or/and holes on your woollens, cottons, linen or silk. Frass could be a fashionable fragrance but is actually the excrement of insect larvae or the larvae itself.
All out! Remove, shake and classify closet contents accordingly, checking every individual garment. As well as tell-tale frass on garment exteriors, look inside too – along seams, around collars, cuffs, button holes and hems; moths like an edge or shelter. Any damaged garments should be separated from natural and synthetic clothing (also placed in separate piles.)
Exterminate! (to quote the Daleks). Vacuum every corner and edge of your wardrobe then soap down and scrub the space. Remember to change the bag afterwards or you may unwittingly provide an alternative breeding ground. Spray Moth Stop! (From 7.99, Lakeland) then close closet doors for at least four hours, followed by open doors and an airing of another four hours.
It all comes out in the wash (and freeze) Once cleaned and dried, cashmere sweaters should be folded into zip tight food bags and placed in freezer drawers for at least 24 hours which will kill moth eggs and break the cycle. All other garments should be laundered or dry cleaned as appropriate.
Olfactory assault. Imagine walking into an oppressive perfumery of a department store that makes your head swim. Aim to discombobulate and deter moths similarly. The pheromones in dried lavender, cloves, thyme, rosemary in fabric pouches or sandalwood wooden balls will help repel them. There are also sachets that can be popped over coat hangers and you can buy hanging moth traps.
Be prepared. As you replenish your wardrobe with freshly laundered garments, consider packing away what you don’t need, ideally in zip bags and boxes thus avoiding a horrible crush of clothing (also attractive to moths.) Cotton or plastic dress bags can be used to protect hanging garments but if exposed, consider spraying them with moth repellent.
Be Moth Aware. Moths love a sweat patch and food spillages, so be mindful of repeatedly worn clothes being placed back into your wardrobe. Introducing vintage or secondhand knitwear into closets without a thorough clean first is just asking for trouble.
In conclusion, moths are like teeth. It’s better to have regular check-ups than wait until critical attention is needed. Now I know the moth peak seasons are April / May (though we’ve had a chilly spring and it could well be later this year) and August / September, I’ll be making seasonal calendar dates with myself for this bi-annual purging which is intensely cathartic. After all, consuming less means looking after what we have more.
Nilgin Yusuf is a freelance writer. You can find her on Twitter @Nilgin and Instagram @nilgin_yusuf
Discussion (24 Comments)
Lucy says:
This is great advice. I’m adding the traps to my shopping list and extra for the pantry too! If you find damage on your rugs or carpet (and of course clothes!) carpet beetles can also be the culprits. The moth traps don’t work for them unfortunately. It’s been a battle since moving house and encountering them (previous owner wasn’t clean and they’ve gotten into all the corners and cracks where pet hair was allowed to accumulate). They’ve destroyed my merino and cashmere clothes and a handbag with animal hair (bought before going vegan but it was a $600 bag so I’m still very annoyed!) I’ve cleaned, I monitor windows and remove any adults and I’ve made little bags of cloves and essential oils for the wardrobe now. Any tips for beetles would be very appreciated because they’re doing so much damage.
Sally James says:
Moths are hideous, we have been repeatedly spraying the carpets too, under beds are sometimes forgotten, especially important if you have woollen or silk carpets. We have found a solution of vinegar and water is readily available and very efficient at keeping the moth count down.
I still maintain that the only 100% foolproof method of getting rid of moths is to burn your house down. As this wasn’t an option for me removing all the fitted woollen carpets from my flat significantly reduced the problem.
Mrs Tonia says:
Very useful guidance here Nilgin. Thank you. Keeping moths from wrecking clothing is an exhausting and time consuming process. I’ve done all the things you suggest apart from washing wardrobes. I air wool rugs in the garden and have an old fashioned carpet beater.
The freezer technique is a good one I make use of. Though I usually wash the clothing after the freezer and then bag the clean garments along with some poison.
Now we are moving into summer weight clothing I can see many chores looming to ensure woollen and cashmere garments make it through to next autumn.
Since I embraced conservation with patching and darning this past year and have repaired many holes I am less bothered by the inevitable damage. And will learn the visible mending techniques of Celia Pym next month.Wendy in York says:
I’m puzzled . I don’t get moth damage & I don’t know why not . Living in Yorkshire it is a little cooler than the south of the UK but not that much . I love wool clothes & rugs plus have wool carpets in some areas . Apart from sticking those orange mothball things in the wardrobes & drawers periodically I don’t go to any great lengths to protect things . Could it be having no heating in our bedrooms ? We don’t like sleeping in very warm bedrooms though the rest of the house is toasty . I don’t understand why it is such a problem for the majority of people .
Hazel says:
My son, whose bedroom is next to mine, battles with moths constantly while I have no issues with them attacking my clothing at all. He has floorboards and I have woollen carpet. It’s a bit of a mystery.
K says:
Not all bug damage to fabrics is up to moths. I was advised to freeze fabrics for 3 weeks, not 24 hours, then thaw for 3 days,
then refreeze. The first 3 week freezing will kill live bugs. The 3 day thaw allow incubating eggs to hatch. Then the re-freeze kills all of them. That should get all bugs in the fall. Global warming is making fabric eating bugs more diverse and more prolific in traditionally cold climates.I suppose the longer the better. If space was no issue for me, I’d have a chest freezer purely for my sweaters, but at the moment my family fridge freezer is usually stuffed with food so little chance of a cashmere takeover for three weeks!
Angela Stewart says:
We’ve never had moths in our house(s) and I’ve not heard of moth damage to interiors or clothes anywhere in New Zealand.
BUT we keep our dwellings much colder than in Europe- generally we kiwis find the heat oppressive in european domestic interiors – in Germany where I lived and visited I used to wear clothing of summer weight if I was going to spend an evening in someone else’s home. During a visit in recent years to Switzerland where we stayed with friends we used to sneak up to the bedroom and open the windows very wide just to bring the body temperature down.
Houses seemed to be of tropic warmth – that might explain the infestations of moth…
Cindy Hendrick says:
I have been dealing with moths in all my clothes , bedding, since last October I clean the washer and dryer, I have set traps used every product out there and it is now June and they are not gone. These are not picky they devour everything, I can not put a item on without checking for them. Help this is. No way to live .
I’ve noticed a few at TNMA Mansions over the last couple of days – I’m sure the colder spring kept them at bay. Bloody pests!
lizzie g says:
@ angela, @wendy, lucky you. i live in two different houses (carer duties), in the same climate. both are old houses, not warm or overheated. one has hundreds of moths, the other has none at all. i think the moths came in on vintage mohair. since finding the first damage i wash, freeze and bag my woolens but my husband wasn’t bothered. Now he has lots of holey jumpers and regrets. i think the difference is not so much the house conditions as whether moths get in and can multiply or not. Alyson / Nilgin thanks so much for the advice, its such a trial and error process, any tips are much appreciated.
Sierra says:
Once you’ve eradicated them as per the article, it’s important to stay one step ahead of the little bliters. I can definitely highly recommend Moth Stop products from Lakeland. I hang them in the wardrobes and place a couple in the clothes drawers. Check them every now and then, as they display the word “end” when they need replacing, and buy some more. Touch wood, this system has worked very well, and the products smell so much better than moth balls!
Elizabeth says:
Moths were introduced to our house after I bought a vintage cardigan and unwittingly hung it in my wardrobe. They ended up infesting a lovely old wool hanging and basically ruining it. We now have very few fitted carpets and I do the washing, freezing, bagging routine but still get the odd one. Almost all my best cashmere is darned somewhere. I do find the traps which attract the males effective and have lots of lovely sandalwood sprays for my sweater drawers and wardrobes. To the lady in Yorkshire, we live in Scotland, our bedrooms are kept pretty cool, afraid there’s no escape.
Catbird Farm says:
I’ve always heard that wool and cashmere should not be stored in plastic bags or boxes but rather in breathable material. Nilgin, can you comment?
I’ve always stored mine in air tight plastic bags although breathable materials could work just as well, provided the pesky things can’t get in!
Thank you, Nilgin – It’s good to know you’ve used air tight bags with no unwanted consequences! I’m making the switch.
bev says:
I wonder if those disgustingly stinky and oppressive old-fashioned mothballs worked better than our attempts today at annihilating the little buggers? I believe naphthalane is now banned as it would appear to kill us too so maybe not the best idea. I remember going to those olde worlde charity shops in the 60s with my mum where the entire shop smelt of wee and mothballs. Thankfully now they do not and I love them!
Ann-Marie says:
Great to read everyone’s advice above. All very consistent. I have struggled with moth infestations for a few years and have tried pretty much everything. The thing that has worked best for me is keeping all knitwear in individual zipped bags, cedar wood balls (masses of them) and those sticky hanging traps-ugly though they are. I do think I will follow Nilgin’s advice to blast the fragrance of lavender, Thyme, cloves & rosemary at those little pests as I do worry about the amount of moths repellent chemicals I’ve inhaled myself over the years!
Diane Santarella Lawrence says:
I don’t think I have seen one simple preventive mentioned: cleanliness. Moths are drawn to perspiration, body oils and food stains, so by cleaning your woolens before storage you are setting yourself up to successfully deter moths, by the addition of lavender or cedar, et al.
Miss Nell says:
While we have certainly had the odd chomp on our clothes by these pesky critters, we seem to be largely free of ongoing molestation. Our preference is to use Huon pine shavings (in bags) and a wonderful little spray of Huon pine ‘oil’. Huon pine contains a natural pest repellent and has, in our opinion, a wonderful smell. Seems to work and living in Tasmania (the only place these trees grow albeit much reduced in numbers) is relatively easy to source.
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
As well as doing all the clearing/airing I recommend having “Smart Trap” traps around the house and inside every closet.
They work by attracting the males who get stuck onto the female pheromone smelling glue inside. Highly effective. Eliminate the males and there’s no breeding. This is our second season using them, apparently the larvae can be dormant for years so it’s a bit of an ongoing battle but I think we’re winning. They shredded a corner of an oriental rug before we realised last year and I’ve been a bit paranoid ever since. Little or no clothes damage though. Exterminate! Smart Traps available online.